The Abuja Action Statement on Protection in the Lake Chad Basin – One Year On

Adopted on 8 June 2016 by the Governments of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger at the Regional Protection Dialogue on the crisis in the Lake Chad Basin, hosted by the Federal Government of Nigeria with the technical support of UNHCR.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

Forced displacement and freedom of movement (Actions 1 – 6)

■ Government and humanitarian actors supported the voluntary relocation of over 4,000 refugees from high risk areas in Niger between June 2016 and June 2017 and 120,000 persons of concern from high risk areas in Chad in 2016. (Action 1)

■ Border and protection monitoring was enhanced in all countries. (Action 3)

■ Over 12,000 representatives of government authorities, international organizations and civil society were trained on the limits and safeguards of refugee and IDP protection in Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. (Action 4)

■ Over 492,000* boys and girls in the affected areas benefited from psycho-social support through child friendly spaces in 2016. (Action 13) *UNICEF/Situation Report/ORS/countries

A comprehensive solutions approach (Actions 16 – 19)

■ Comprehensive solutions were advanced in Chad through a new Government policy in 2016 to enable alternatives to camps and inclusion of refugees, IDPs and returnees in the UNDAF. (Actions 16 & 18)

■ Over 307,000* boys and girls affected by the crisis were supported by humanitarian actors to access education and 423,739* received school materials in 2016. (Action 16)
*UNICEF/Situation Report/ORS/countries

■ On 2 March 2017, Cameroon, Nigeria and UNHCR signed a Tripartite Agreement to ensure refugee returns are voluntary, in safety and dignity. (Action 17)

■ Humanitarian and State actors continue to conduct monitoring and advocacy to ensure access to asylum and returns are voluntary, in safety and dignity. (Action 17)

Nationality and documentation (Actions 20 – 23)

■ Awareness raising campaigns on the importance of civil registration were conducted in all countries, including over 14,000 persons reached in Niger and multilingual radio broadcasts conducted in North East Nigeria. (Action 20)

■ 522 refugee children births were registered in Chad through mobile registration centres between January 2015 and January 2017. (Action 21)

■ Niger endorsed and prioritized the Diffa Administrative and Humanitarian Census Project, which aims to register the entire population of Diffa and is slated to begin in January 2018. (Actions 21 & 22)

■ Nigeria and Niger developed national action plans to eradicate statelessness and designated Government Focal Points on statelessness issues. (Action 22)